The concept of the Internet of Things was first proposed in 1999. The definition is very simple, that is, connecting all things to the Internet by using an information sensing device, so as to implement intelligent identification and management.
According to an existing standard definition, an information sensing device applied to the Internet of Things includes an apparatus such as a radio frequency identification apparatus, an infrared sensor, a global positioning system, and a laser scanner. They are combined with the Internet, which can implement remote sensing and control over all things (for example, buildings, goods, climates, machines, and human beings), thereby forming a more intelligent production and living system. It is larger than the existing Internet and is widely applied to multiple fields such as intelligent traffic, environment protection, government operation, common security, intelligent home, intelligent firefighting, industrial monitoring, senior health care, and personal health.
It is generally considered that a first phase of the Internet of Things is referred to as machine to machine (M2M). That is, free communications between machines is implemented. For a communications network (for example, a mobile cellular network), this type of communications service undertaken by the communications network is referred to as machine type communication (MTC).
However, large-scale M2M/MTC development requires several prerequisites, one of which is reduction of a terminal (communications module) cost. Therefore, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) proposes a low-cost low-bandwidth UE which supports only a low system channel bandwidth (for example, 1.4 megahertz (MHz) or 3 MHz), or in other words, supports only a low system downlink transmission bandwidth (for example, six resource blocks (RB), or 15 RBs). Because only a low bandwidth is considered during product design and a problem of accessing an LTE system of 20 MHz or 100 RBs does not need to be considered, a terminal cost can be greatly reduced. In addition, if a low-bandwidth UE solution is applied to an LTE system, migration of an existing M2M application that is deployed on a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system/network to a long term evolution (LTE) system is facilitated, so that an operator can re-develop a frequency band of an existing GSM or GPRS system. It should be noted that a low-bandwidth user equipment (UE) may be an MTC UE or may be a UE of another application. The low-bandwidth UE supports only a low bandwidth, which may be for downlink (communication from a base station to a UE) or uplink (communication from a UE to a base station), or only a low bandwidth is supported both uplink and downlink.
As a result, a problem of how to enable a low-bandwidth UE to access a broadband (for example, 10 MHz) system and a problem of how to enable a low-bandwidth UE and a common UE to coexist in a same system are involved.